A video submitted by CGI member Sonik_Cat.

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by Tyler Durden
Sunday, Jan 25, 2026 - 05:05 PM

Mainstream media outlets rushed to paint Alex Pretti as a blameless ICU nurse gunned down by heartless Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. They highlighted his work caring for veterans and seized on video snippets showing him holding a phone. The New York Times ran with that angle, running the headline “Man Killed by Federal Agents in Minneapolis Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun,” and claimed that footage captured Pretti only with his phone in hand, insisting that agents had no reason to believe he was armed during their encounter.

Media outlets are also quick to point out that Pretti held a valid Minnesota concealed carry permit and legally owned the gun, as if that absolved him for his actions against the Border Patrol agents.

Others point out that he had no criminal record, just traffic tickets.

This, they argue, proves he was an innocent victim, not an agitator.

But what the mainstream media isn’t telling you is that Pretti wasn’t just some random bystander.

According to Jeanne Massey, a neighbor, Pretti was part of a “Signal ICE” group chat of volunteers who organized a sophisticated operation to track ICE activity in real time and alert each other when agents were in the area.

These folks patrol streets, blow whistles, alert residents, and film operations to disrupt arrests.

That puts him not on the sidelines but plugged into the very network that coordinated responses to federal enforcement operations.

Mother Jones profiled the group just last week.

“A new activist twist on neighborhood watch is taking shape in Minneapolis and other cities under occupation by federal immigration agents: ICE Watch,” the outlet reported.

“As Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel drive around these cities, they’re often tailed by people in the neighborhoods. The idea is to make sure witnesses are present for any immigration arrest, to catch incidents on video, and to protest—or at least get the detainee’s name.”

The article described the “ICE watchers” as “passionate, determined, and just about everywhere—and ICE is getting frustrated.”

🚨 HOLY CRAP. They have a full-blown lengthy training manual for leftist insurrectionists stalking, harassing and ambushing ICE and Border agents in Minneapolis

This is a well-organized and well-funded network.

These people need to be in PRISON.pic.twitter.com/RGpNsOlh2b https://t.co/YGJ5CwRY8Y

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2015478589244809249

Massey and Pretti were part of the Kingfield neighborhood ICE Watch.

Massey spoke on behalf of her neighbors, saying, “Let me be clear: we are horrified, we are furious, and we are not going to pretend this is anything but what it is — another senseless act of violence carried out by federal agents in our city.”

Massey explained that she was one of many Minneapolis locals who flocked to the scene where the man was shot dead this morning.

She said that she was there when the ICE agents stormed the crowd and tear gassed the bystanders.

“People here are terrified, but we are also angry — angry that federal agents continue to operate with impunity, with lethal force, with no accountability,” Massey claimed.

“Our city is under siege. No one here feels safe, and that is unacceptable.”
(And yet, it is YOU who is putting yourself in dangerous situations. The arrests of illegal aliens)

The mainstream media seems to be uninterested in reporting on Pretti’s involvement with his local ICE Watch group.

Similar gaslighting took place after the shooting of Renee Good after she attempted to run over an ICE agent with her car earlier this month. She was immediately portrayed as a scared “Minnesota mom” who had just dropped her son off at school and accidentally found herself in the middle of an active ICE operation.

In reality, she was a committed anti-ICE activist who deliberately sought to obstruct federal immigration enforcement, and was part of her local “ICE Watch” group as well, with which she received training on how to obstruct federal agents.

Finally, here's how Dana Loesch put it:

Yes, you absolutely can carry at a protest.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is an anti-2A statist.

No, you absolutely cannot interrupt a federal op while armed and tussle with LEO.

That's how tragic things happen.

This isn't rocket science.

Hard to argue with that.